Oh dear! Last night while sitting around chatting Rich went to move his camp chair, and because it was on a slight hill, he fell backwards onto his back. The pain was excruciating. We managed to get him into bed however he didn’t have a very good nights sleep and so our two nurses, Catie and Jenny, recommended we seek medical help.

Julia Creek has a very new modern hospital not far from the RV Park so I drove him around there. He stayed in bed. I went inside and asked if someone could come and look at him as he was finding it very difficult to get out of bed. Well no, you can’t do that. He has to be brought inside the hospital. The nurse suggested I call the ambulance. The ambulance station in Julia Creek is opposite the hospital.

Really! I have to call the ambulance that I am parked out the front of to come and take Richard across the road into the hospital!

So as I was calling 000 the nurse came outside with a wheelchair. Now that was helpful. She couldn’t help me but I managed to get Rich up and out of the motorhome and into the wheelchair so I could wheel him inside the hospital. Poor fellow was in agony by this time. Once inside the nurse could take over and they quickly assessed him and called the doctor.

The doctor eventually rocked up and after examining Richard said he wasn’t too concerned and he’s probably jarred his back. He recommended X-rays however the nearest hospital for that would be Longreach. He ordered a shot of morphine and an anti nausea shot and once they were administered we were sent on our way.

We were headed to Winton which has to same size hospital as Julia Creek. The nurse did say to call in there if we needed to, otherwise wait until we get to the bigger hospital at Longreach.

So after a morphine shot Rich was NOT driving. He couldn’t anyway.

So I drove from Julia Creek to Winton via Kyuna. Wow what a fantastic road. It was mostly two lanes wide and in such great condition. There were lots of floodways that I had to slow down for (it is channel country) and a few cattle grids but on the whole it was a fantastic trip and I was able to hoon along at 95km/h most of the time.

We pulled up at the intersection of the Kyuna/Julia Creek Road with the main Winton/Cloncurry road and we’d just settled in for some lunch when who should arrive but Katie and the kids. They’d gone the longer way via McKinlay so they could visit the infamous Walkabout Creek Hotel from the Crocodile Dundee movie. They enjoyed their visit there but the kids have no idea who Crocodile Dundee is as they haven’t ever seen the movie. We’re showing our age!

After a lunch break we continued on to Winton and, when we arrived in the late afternoon, checked in to the Winton Wanderers Caravan Park just on the western outskirts of town.

It was our turn to cook and we finally got out Katie’s Weber and cooked sausages and lamb koftas. I made a veggie bake to go with it. We all sat outside under our awning, enjoyed dinner and watched the amazing sunset.